Actress Keira Knightley has accused the Duchess of Cambridge of hiding the "bloody, screaming" reality of giving birth by posing for photos hours after having her baby.
Keira Knightley has revealed she had a mental breakdown at 22 because she struggled to cope with her sudden rise to fame.
The actress, 33, took a year-long break from acting after star appearances in Love Actually and Bend It Like Beckham – but was still ground down by theconstant media attention, reported the Daily Mail.
"I literally felt like I was worthless," she told a Hollywood Reporter podcast.
"I felt pretty much like actually I didn't exist and I was this weird creature with this weird face that people seemed to respond to in quite an extreme way."
Miss Knightley said leaving the house created "a sense of battle" as she was constantly followed by paparazzi.
She added: "If you [female stars] weren't breaking down in front of them, then it was worth their while to make you break down in front of them … so suddenly there was a level of violence, it felt, in the air. That is not a thing that anybody would react to well.
"I did have a mental breakdown at 22, so I did take a year off there and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder because of all of that."
Her comments came as she accused the Duchess of Cambridge of hiding the "bloody, screaming" reality of giving birth by posing for photos hours after having her baby..
Keira slammed Kate for the appearance she made just hours after the birth of her third child. Photo / Getty Images
In her contribution to Feminists Don't Wear Pink And Other Lies, a collection of feminist essays, the star has written a graphic account of giving birth to daughter Edie, three.
According to Refinery29, Miss Knightley, who is married to Klaxons star James Righton, describes childbirth as a battleground, and says women are encouraged to "hide their pain".
Her essay also included a reference to the moment her waters broke as she walked down Clerkenwell Road, leaving her favourite brogues "crusted and sticky" with amniotic fluid.
"I remember the s***, the vomit, the blood, the stitches. I remember my battleground. Your battleground and life pulsating. Surviving. And I am the weaker sex? You are?"
Alongside her graphic account of childbirth, the actress criticises Kate for appearing in heels and make-up shortly after Charlotte was born.
Less than ten hours after the birth, Kate was seen in a bespoke Jenny Packham buttercup print dress and nude court shoes outside St Mary's Hospital in London with Prince William and their second child.
Kate after the birth of Charlotte. Photo / Getty Images
Describing watching the royal on TV, Miss Knightley, whose daughter was born the day before, wrote: "She was out of hospital… hours later with her face made up and high heels on. The face the world wants to see.
"This stuff is easy. It happens every day. What's the big deal? So does death, you s***heads, but you don't have to pretend that's easy."
Kate, 36, suffered hyperemesis gravidarum – severe morning sickness – while pregnant with all three of her children.
Referring to her own experience of early motherhood, Miss Knightley, who is married to musician James Righton, 35, wrote: "I don't wash for a month.
